Latest news with #Sónar
The Guardian
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Sónar festival hit with artist boycott over alleged links to Israel
Sónar, one of Europe's leading electronic music festivals, is under threat after dozens of musicians and DJs announced a boycott over the event's parent company KKR's alleged links to Israel. More than 70 artists signed an open letter to the festival, which is due to take place in Barcelona from 12-14 June, stating that 'we oppose any affiliation between the cultural sector and entities complicit in war crimes'. The boycott from artists such as Kode9, Lolo & Sosaku, Juliana Huxtable and Sunny Graves comes amid claims that KKR is linked to housing developments in the illegally occupied West Bank, in addition to other business interests in Israel. This claim is based on the fact that KKR is a major investor in the German media company Axel Springer, which runs ads for developments in the occupied territories on Israel's Yad2 classified ad site, owned by Springer. In June 2024, KKR, a US investment company with an estimated $710bn (£526bn) in assets, paid €1.3bn (£1.09bn) to acquire the entertainment company Superstruct and with it a controlling interest in 80 music festivals across 10 European countries and Australia. KKR's portfolio includes energy companies, the US publisher Simon & Schuster and Thames Water. Spain's culture minister Ernest Urtasun said that KKR is 'not welcome in Spain', adding that 'for many years it's been policy that companies with economic interests in illegal settlements in Palestine cannot operate normally in the European Union'. Sónar issued a statement in which it dissociated itself from KKR's financial activities, over which it has no control, and reaffirmed its commitment to diversity and human rights. KKR declined to comment on the allegations of its links to Israel and referred the Guardian to Superstruct's statement in which the latter company says it is 'horrified by the scale of suffering' in Gaza, adding that, despite KKR's acquisition, Superstruct remains 'independently run, making its own decisions based on what is in the best interests of our fans, artists and colleagues'. Asked what more Sónar could do, given that it didn't choose its owner, Lolo of Lolo & Sosaku, said: 'What I don't get is people who defend Sónar saying it isn't KKR when in some sense it is, because Sónar was a family and now it isn't. When you sell yourself to something like Superstruct you know what's going to happen and you've lost touch with the essence of what you were about to begin with.' The Netherlands-based Animistic Beliefs cancelled their Sónar show because they claim KKR profits from 'war, climate destruction and systems of oppression', adding that 'we know no space is free from contradiction but somewhere the line has to be drawn'. The band La Élite say they are boycotting the FIB festival in July which is held in Benicassìm, near Valencia, because of its association with KKR. 'People are frustrated and feel a need to dissociate themselves from these festivals and obviously no one wants their money to go directly to these bastards,' the band told the Guardian. 'The ways things stand, the mere fact of calling things by their name, that is, genocide, amounts to making a stand,' they said. 'Beyond that, it's up to everyone and their conscience to do what they can.' At least 15 artists have also pulled out of this weekend's Field Day festival in London, also owned by Superstruct. In a statement, Field Day, which says it had no say in the KKR takeover, said: 'We would like to say, clearly and directly, that we stand with the people of Gaza and support the peaceful aims of the Palestinian civil organisations and everyone working tirelessly to give them a voice.' Last year Sónar+D, a programme that runs alongside the festival dedicated to innovation and technology, received around €880,000 (£740,000) in subsidies from the Catalan government, Barcelona city council and the EU. Neither the regional government nor the city council subsidises the music festival.
Sky News
30-04-2025
- Business
- Sky News
Channel 4 chief Mahon to run live entertainment group Superstruct
Alex Mahon, the Channel 4 chief executive, is to become the new boss of the live entertainment group behind Cornwall's Boardmasters festival. Sky News has learnt that Ms Mahon, whose departure after eight years at the state-owned broadcaster was announced earlier this week, is to take the helm at Superstruct Entertainment. Superstruct, which is owned by the buyout firms KKR and CVC Capital Partners, is expected to announce the appointment this week, according to private equity insiders. It is understood to have been briefing festival management teams on Ms Mahon's move on Wednesday morning. Her arrival will give Ms Mahon the opportunity to earn a more lucrative remuneration package than the one on offer to her at Channel 4. Superstruct owns and operates more than 80 music festivals across ten countries in Europe and Australia. Since the company was established in 2017 by Providence Equity Partners, its former owner, Superstruct has expanded both organically and through acquisitions into a major live entertainment group. Its portfolio includes some of Europe's most popular festivals, including Wacken Open Air, Defqon.1, Tinderbox, Boardmasters and Sónar, which is held annually in Barcelona. KKR and CVC both declined to comment on Wednesday. Ms Mahon's arrival at the company comes nearly a year after it was bought by KKR in a deal worth about £1bn. CVC took a minority stake in the business several months later. Her exit from Channel 4 came as little surprise given the length of her tenure, and leaves the television group hunting a new boss. "I feel lucky beyond belief to have had the chance to lead Channel 4 for nearly eight years - through calm seas (very few) and stormy waters (more than our fair share)," Ms Mahon said on Monday. "From navigating the threat of privatisation (twice), to shifting out of London, to digital transformation, lockdowns, political upheaval, advertising chaos - there has never been a dull moment." Channel 4 was in line to be privatised under the last Conservative government, with a number of bidders weighing offers for it before the process was pulled.
BBC News
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Celtronic: Ireland's 'longest running' electronic music festival to end
An electronic music festival, which is billed as the island of Ireland's longest running event of its kind, is set to end after almost 25 years, organisers have which was started by two "very skint" friends in Londonderry in early 2001, has attracted some of the biggest DJs from all over the world and played to thousands of fans over the Gareth Stewart said they "want to end on a high and on their own terms" after "many happy memories running the event". Gareth said it has been a privilege to put on shows in his home city and also give local people an opportunity to perform and "prove that you can be from Derry and have a career in electronic music". 'All good raves must come to an end' "When most festivals end it's usually because they have gone bankrupt or something terrible has happened, but for us it's simply the right time," Gareth told BBC News NI. "We have invited everyone we wanted to come to Derry and have played almost every venue that we wanted to."Looking back over nearly a quarter of a century of events, Gareth said some of his fondest memories were getting some huge names from across the globe to come and play in said getting stand out names like French music producer and DJ Laurent Garnier, England's Dave Clarke and even American musician and songwriter Nile Rodgers from Chic to perform twice, is still a 'pinch yourself moment'. He said that none of this would have been possible without crews, friends and the generations of dancers that continued to flock to their dancefloors. Couldn't afford to fly so started a festival The first Celtronic Festival, Gareth said, started as "a wild notion" from very humble beginnings. "I essentially met a guy called Tony Talbot and we were just these two skint young fellas from Shantallow with dreams," he said. "We always wanted to go to this amazing festival called Sónar in Barcelona, but could never afford the tickets - there wasn't any cheap flights like there is nowadays. "I asked him how would we go about doing our own version of that festival right here in Derry, so we applied for funding and - somehow - were successful and we just essentially booked our dream DJs, our dream line up." Gareth said they really "did not have too much of a plan" but somehow they pulled it off and nearly 25 years later the festival has just kept growing and growing. "We had no intention of where we were going or what we were planning, just do it once and hope for the best," he said."Back then it was an eight day and eight night festival - we had a lot more stamina than we do now." Gareth said that when they started Celtronic a real aim was to be able to provide a platform for local talent, alongside international talent, to flourish and grow. "We essentially wanted to reverse a trend of always having to import talent, when we wanted to start exporting it," he said."There are now people from this part of the world being able to develop careers in the electronic music industry."One of the most successful of those is a young DJ called Orlagh Dooley (aka Or:la) from Prehen who is playing all the best clubs and festivals all over the world."People like that send a signal to young kids coming up that you can be from Derry and have a career in electronic music, playing clubs in Ibiza or London, wherever."
